Yasiin Bey Says Black Star Is Working On New Music With Madlib (Audio)

This August makes 20 years since the release of Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. The Rawkus Records album is a benchmark album of Hip-Hop’s underground uprising, and a key introduction of Mos Def (nka Yasiin Bey), Talib Kweli, and producer DJ Hi-Tek.

While Talib and Yasiin have collaborated and toured extensively over the last 20 years, Black Star’s album has appeared to be a moment in time. While both MCs are regularly asked about a proper follow-up, those hopes appeared further complicated by Yasiin Bey’s vow to retire from album-making and concerts.
Talib Kweli Details How He And Mos Def Became Family Before They Were Black Star (Video)

That appears to have changed. A Reddit poster (Mellowtooth) grabbed footage of Yasiin Bey telling fans at a Denver, Colorado show, “New Black Star with Madlib, Talib Kweli, Yasiin, coming soon!,” before adding, “All Madlib, all day. 2018, Madlib, Black Star. Madlib Black Star.” The recorded audio was added by Mellowtooth to Soundcloud:

During the same time that Black Star made its debut, producer/MC Madlib was part of the same Hip-Hop movement, as a member of Oxnard, California’s Lootpack. In the years that followed, the producer released Liberation with Talib Kweli, and produced on Mos Def albums.

In 2011, the crew released two online singles in consecutive days, “Fix Up” and “You Already Knew.”

Last year, Talib Kweli released Radio Silence, deemed one of 2017’s “15 Best Hip-Hop Albums” by Ambrosia For Heads. Yasiin Bey has not released a project since 2009’s Mos Def LP, The Ecstatic.

Kweli was on hand for the concert this weekend, and re-tweeted promotor Johnny Denver’s photo of Black Star with the caption, “incredible night!”